Sophia had felt a little dizzy during the day, and her nose was blocked.
By nighttime, she started to get a fever. She looked for medicine but saw that it was already expired, so she ordered new fever medicine through a delivery app.
While boiling water, she casually threw the expired medicine into the square-shaped pig trough.
She only wanted to boil water, but her body felt heavy and weak.
Her head was spinning, but she still held on and kept watching short videos on her phone.
Time passed quickly while she was scrolling. Soon she heard the sound of boiling water bubbling.
She was about to get up when something shiny in the corner of the pig trough caught her eye.
Sophia suddenly felt more awake.
What was that?
Did the trough just spit out something it had eaten before? Or maybe it had finished digesting and pushed something out?
She was curious but also a little scared, so she walked over carefully. In the end, her curiosity won.
When she looked closely, she saw gold, silver, and jade.
Is this real?
Even though Sophia had already seen a lot in her twenty-plus years, she couldn't help but wonder if she was dreaming.
Forget it. Whether it's real or fake, I'll deal with it later.
Sophia quickly picked up all the jewelry from the trough. What if the trough worked like a cow, chewed the stuff again, and swallowed it back?
She counted quickly. There were about ten pieces.
As soon as she touched them, she could tell they were real gold and real jade.
Strange. These look like they were used before.
Then she remembered what the neighbor once said. The Jiang family used this trough to raise pigs in the past. Maybe this trough was really old. The things that just came out might be what the trough swallowed many years ago.
She didn't know what she did to make the trough spit them out.
Sophia guessed the value and realized she could make a lot of money.
Feeling excited, she took the new medicine.
Then she carefully put the ten items away in her room. After that, she came back to the pig trough, thinking about where she should place it.
She thought for about thirty minutes. Her back was sweating a bit. Her body felt better and her head was clearer.
I think this spot is good. It doesn't stand out.
Once she made her decision, Sophia clapped her hands and stood up.
She placed some other things beside the trough to hide it better. She was about to leave but suddenly remembered something. Her family once tried to run a small store. Because they picked a bad location, the store failed. Now their house still had a lot of leftover snacks and drinks.
Thinking of that, Sophia went to the next room, picked up a large woven bag full of who-knew-if-they-were-expired snacks and cookies, and filled the trough all the way to the top.
After finishing everything, she felt really sleepy. She didn't stay to watch. She just closed the door and went to bed.
General Yves was young and strong. Even if he felt sick, he could recover quickly.
After sending everyone out of the room, he told General Ulric to take people and guard the whole mansion.
They had to find out who was pretending to act like a god and playing tricks on them.
After checking everything the whole night, they caught several spies.
Some were sent from the palace, some were planted by their own people, some were from enemy countries, and some were from other kingdoms.
Inside the dark prison, General Yves sat in the main seat with his eyes closed, trying to rest.
There was still blood on the ground that had not been cleaned up properly.
It hadn't rained for several months. Everything was dry and suffering from drought. They just covered the blood with dry sand.
The strong smell of blood made General Yves' headache start again.
"General. We have finished counting the prisoners. There are 14,693 of them. What should we do with them? Please give your order."
The number was too big, and many of them were injured or disabled. If they kept them together, problems could happen. It might be better to kill some or separate them into different places.
This was a serious matter. General Ulric couldn't decide by himself.
After reporting, General Ulric added, "Yesterday, we sent ten teams to look for water and food. Eight teams are back now. None of them found anything."
Food was still possible to find. They could chew on tree bark if needed.
But water was the bigger problem. Among their thirty thousand soldiers, many were wounded. Some had lost arms or legs and needed treatment badly. Until now, out of eight hundred wounded soldiers, two hundred had already died because they did not get treated in time.
Even though General Yves was strict, if they had no food or water for too long, the army might start to panic and lose control.
And based on their plan, this southern battle was only halfway done.
"General, I think Howell's idea sounds stupid, but if we really have no choice…"
Just as he was speaking, water suddenly poured down right in front of General Yves, only three feet away from him.
Clear water washed away the dirt and bad smell in the air. The air around them suddenly felt fresh. The pressure in General Yves' head started to relax.
General Ulric stared at the scene with wide eyes. After a moment, he said to General Yves, "General. This must be a sign from the gods."
He quickly told his men to bring buckets to collect the water.
General Yves was still suspicious. He did not believe in so-called gods.
But because the water made him feel better, he did not push it away either.
The water kept pouring from morning until noon.
General Yves listened to the sound of the water with his eyes closed, resting quietly. General Ulric took care of everything else.
When the water finally stopped, General Ulric brought in a heavy wooden box with help.
General Yves opened his sharp eyes and looked straight at him.
General Ulric gave a nervous smile and said, "Last night, when you fainted with a high fever, the other generals and I prayed and gave offerings to the higher power. Then the gods gave us medicine. And this morning, they gave us clean water. Now I am here to give thanks."
Everyone said that General Yves, the war god of Zhao, was cruel and fierce. People were afraid of him.
General Ulric knew General Yves' temper well. Even if Yves didn't like what he did, the most he would do was throw him and the offering out of the room.
General Ulric smiled carefully. General Yves looked at him coldly but didn't say anything.
Since he was not told to leave, General Ulric felt a bit braver. He asked his men to place the box exactly three feet in front of General Yves, then he made everyone else leave.
General Yves didn't even look at the box.
He had already come back to his room while the water was still falling. Now the door was shut. It was just him and the wooden box filled with gold, silver, and jewels.
General Yves didn't care about it. The room had been cleaned by the fresh water, and it felt better than the hot air outside.
He slowly fell asleep without realizing it.
In his dream, everything moved fast. He found himself in a strange world. The people had short hair and wore very little clothing. There were lots of metal boxes moving on the streets.
Then, a girl with a ponytail walked up to him. She wore a short shirt and long pants. Her skin was pale. She had pretty eyes and eyebrows. She was about to speak.
Suddenly, General Yves opened his eyes.